International Instructors Course

The 92nd International Instructors Course (IIC), hosted by the Irish National Taekwon-Do
Association was held in Dublin, Ireland from the 23rd-25th of May. A total of 143 participants, including 15 Masters travelled from Belgium, England, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland,
Scotland, Sweden and Spain to train under the International Technical Committee of Grand Master Marano, Grand Master Bos and Grand Master Lan-Ung.

The IIC began on Friday morning at 9am. The IIC was divided into two separate courses – one
course for third degree and below and one course for fourth degree and above. This allowed for each group to spend time with the Masters discussing and practicing techniques and patterns relevant to
their grade. On the first day, participants for 4th degree and up spend time with Grand Master Marano going through the technical aspects of fundamental movements, ensuring that concepts were clearly
understood by all. This served as a solid foundation for the rest of the day as students practiced a range of their patterns. Grand Master Bos presented participants with a high-energy session that
allowed for great interaction between individuals and excellent displays of core strength and flexibility. Attention was also given to step sparring on day one with Grand Master Bos and Grand Master
Lan motivating creative thinking and inspiring participants to approach their training and their practicing in an innovative manner. Grand Master Lan also spent

time explaining some of the theories that were key to our development as ITF students,
including breathing and sine-wave.

The Banquet was held on Friday evening and was attended by 58 participants. The 4 course
meal offered participants and Masters the opportunity to meet and catch up and provided a warm and friendly atmosphere to socialize. The Grand Masters and Masters ensured that they spoke with all
those who attended and visited each table and took photos and chatted with every person who attended.

The second day of the IIC consisted of the technical course in the morning and the ITF kids
course run by Master Nardizzi in the afternoon. All those who presented for grading were also tested on Saturday afternoon. The morning session offered participants the opportunity to practice their
higher grade patterns in a supportive learning environment. Each Grand Master spent time breaking down and demonstrating each movement to ensure consistency amongst all of the participants. Time was
also allocated to self-defense on Day 2 with Grand Master Lan discussing some of the concepts necessary to teach self-defense in the Taekwon-Do Class. Grand Master Bos discussed offered students the
opportunity to discuss the evolution of the Taekwon-Do student and created an atmosphere that motivated students to bring the information learned from the IIC back to their training halls.

Master Nardizzi presented the ITF kids course in the afternoon and through practical
examples of games and exercises, carefully explained how different activities could be used to help kids learn practical and effective Taekwon-Do skills in a fun and creative way. Master Nardizzi
encourage participants from the IIC to involve themselves in the games throughout the afternoon which created a fun and light hearted environment from which people were able to see exactly how these
exercises could be implemented. The promotional tests began at 1.30 on Saturday afternoon. In total, 16 candidates presented for grading. Five participants graded from 5thDegree to 6thDegree
under Grandmaster Lan and Masters O’Toole (VIII), President of the INTA and Douglas (VIII) Vice-President of the INTA. Ten 6thpresented for Master grading and were tested under the International
Technical Committee members of Grand Master Marano and Grand Master Bos. In addition, Master Wallace from Scotland presented for promotion to 8thdegree. The grading was of an excellent standard and
all individuals were successfully promoted.

The final day started at 9am and saw the Grand Masters break all the participants into
smaller groups where more focused attention could be spent on the patterns. These break-away groups allowed participants to interact with one another and learn from one another based on the
information provided over the past three days. The IIC came to a close at 12 pm on Sunday and all participants were awarded their certificates. Master Brendan O’Toole closed the IIC with
acknowledging the dedication of the Grand Masters to improving the level of technical detail across all countries. He thanked all the participants for making the IIC so enjoyable and acknowledged how
great it was to meet up with old friends and to make new friends. Master O’Toole then presented the Grandmasters with a gift of appreciation for their efforts. The gift entitled “The Gathering”
represented the importance a sense of belonging to one family – one ITF family.